Wind power is considered one of the cleanest, most environmentally friendly energy sources presently available, and wind turbines have gained increased attention in this regard. A modern wind turbine typically includes a tower, a generator, a gearbox, a nacelle, and one or more rotor blades. The rotor blades capture kinetic energy of wind using known airfoil principles. For example, rotor blades typically have the cross-sectional profile of an airfoil such that, during operation, air flows over the blade producing a pressure difference between the sides. Consequently, a lift force, which is directed from a pressure side towards a suction side, acts on the blade. The lift force generates torque on the main rotor shaft, which is geared to a generator for producing electricity.
For example, FIGS. 1 and 2 illustrate a wind turbine 10 and associated power system suitable for use with the wind turbine 10 according to conventional construction. As shown, the wind turbine 10 includes a nacelle 14 that typically houses a generator 28 (FIG. 2). The nacelle 14 is mounted on a tower 12 extending from a support surface (not shown). The wind turbine 10 also includes a rotor 16 that includes a plurality of rotor blades 20 attached to a rotating hub 18. As wind impacts the rotor blades 20, the blades 20 transform wind energy into a mechanical rotational torque that rotatably drives a low-speed shaft 22. The low-speed shaft 22 is configured to drive a gearbox 24 (where present) that subsequently steps up the low rotational speed of the low-speed shaft 22 to drive a high-speed shaft 26 at an increased rotational speed. The high-speed shaft 26 is generally rotatably coupled to a generator 28 (such as a doubly-fed induction generator or DFIG) so as to rotatably drive a generator rotor 30. As such, a rotating magnetic field may be induced by the generator rotor 30 and a voltage may be induced within a generator stator 32 that is magnetically coupled to the generator rotor 30. The associated electrical power can be transmitted from the generator stator 32 to a main three-winding transformer 34 that is typically connected to a power grid via a grid breaker 36. Thus, the main transformer 34 steps up the voltage amplitude of the electrical power such that the transformed electrical power may be further transmitted to the power grid.
In addition, as shown, the generator 28 is typically electrically coupled to a bi-directional power converter 38 that includes a rotor-side converter 40 joined to a line-side converter 42 via a regulated DC link 44. The rotor-side converter 40 converts the AC power provided from the rotor 30 into DC power and provides the DC power to the DC link 44. The line side converter 42 converts the DC power on the DC link 44 into AC output power suitable for the power grid. Thus, the AC power from the power converter 38 can be combined with the power from the stator 32 to provide multi-phase power (e.g. three-phase power) having a frequency maintained substantially at the frequency of the power grid (e.g. 50 Hz/60 Hz).
The illustrated three-winding transformer 34 typically has (1) a 33 kilovolt (kV) medium voltage (MV) primary winding 33 connected to the power grid, (2) a 6 to 13.8 kV MV secondary winding 35 connected to the generator stator 32, and (3) a 690 to 900 volt (V) low-voltage (LV) tertiary winding 37 connected to the line-side power converter 42.
Referring now to FIG. 3, individual power systems of a plurality of wind turbines 10 may be arranged in a predetermined geological location and electrically connected together to form a wind farm 46. More specifically, as shown, the wind turbines 10 may be arranged into a plurality of groups 48 with each group separately connected to a main line 50 via switches 51, 52, 53, respectively. In addition, as shown, the main line 50 may be electrically coupled to another, larger transformer 54 for further stepping up the voltage amplitude of the electrical power from the groups 48 of wind turbines 10 before sending the power to the grid.
With the growing success of wind power production in recent years, this form of power has gained significant market share. As wind power includes variations and is not a power source having a timely constant power output (e.g. due to variations of the wind speed), operators of power distribution networks have to take this into account. One of the consequences is, for example, that the distribution and transmission networks have become more difficult to manage. This pertains also to the management of the amount of reactive power flow in a network.
Referring now to FIGS. 4 and 5, schematic diagrams of a farm-level reactive power control scheme and a turbine-level reactive power control scheme are illustrated, respectively, according to conventional construction. More specifically, as shown in FIG. 4, the farm-level control scheme includes a fast inner voltage magnitude loop 58 and a slow outer reactive power loop 56. Further, as shown, the farm-level controller alternates between voltage control and reactive power control via switch 64. For voltage control, the farm-level controller receives a voltage set point 66 and limits the set point via a slew rate limiter 68. For reactive power control, the farm-level controller regulates the reactive power via a VAR regulator 70 based on a reactive power set point 72 and a reactive power feedback signal QFBK. The farm-level controller then limits either the voltage or reactive power signal that enters the fast inner voltage magnitude loop 58. As shown at 74, another voltage regulator 74 regulates the voltage signal to determine a reactive power command for the wind farm. The farm-level controller then distributes the net reactive power command (i.e. QCMD1, QCMD2, QCMDn, and so on) to the individual wind turbines 102 (i.e. 101, 102, to 10n and so on).
At the turbine level, as shown in FIG. 5, there is another volt/VAR control loop that consists of a faster inner magnitude loop 62 and a slower outer reactive power loop 60. Further, the three-winding transformer 34 of each wind turbine 10 provides a certain impedance that allows the wind turbines 10 in the wind farm 46 to regulate the voltage at the secondary winding of the three-winding transformer 34. This in turn enables regulating the voltage at the point of interconnection (POI) (also referred to as the point of common coupling (POCC)). Thus, the faster inner magnitude loop 62 provides the grid with fast voltage magnitude support for transient events, while the slower outer reactive power loop 60 provides VAR balance between the wind turbines 10 in steady state.
In such systems, however, the three-winding transformers 34 associated with each wind turbine 10 is expensive. Particularly, the secondary winding 35 of the transformer 34 that is connected to the generator stator 32 can be costly. Thus, it would be advantageous to eliminate such three-winding transformers from wind turbine power systems.
Thus, it would be advantageous to provide a wind farm having a plurality of wind turbines without the three-winding transformer described above, but that maintains the systems' ability to control reactive power.